


Underneath the Broken Facade

by Xenryi



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: EVERYTHING GOES WRONG, Gen, How Do I Tag, I don't think this makes sense really, I may add permadeath, I will add characters as I go on!, Magical! Mumbo?, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Plot, Respawn, Voidwalker! Xisuma, Watcher! Grian but not in the conventional sense?, Winged Hermits, beta read by my friend that_nerd03, first story so it probably sucks, not cannon compliant, please help my stuipd brain
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:07:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24777382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenryi/pseuds/Xenryi
Summary: Being a Watcher isn't easy. People come and go, you come and go. Grian had learned to not get attached, but Hermitcraft feels different. He would love to live here indefinitely, but what are the consequences?
Comments: 48
Kudos: 130





	1. Where he woke up

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first fic. I really don't know if it's good or not, but I hope you like it!

Grian was a Watcher. Not in the sense that he watched videos or spied on others, but in the sense that he lived in many worlds, watched them collapse, and remembered every single one. Not many people could say they had that gift, which was most definitely also a curse. Every death in one world would just lead to another life full of sorrow. This cycle of grief and rebirth left Grian deprived of emotion. Not that not having emotions was a bad thing. When you're stuck in a cycle of death it is best to not feel for those around you. It makes the thought of others dying much easier to brush past. 

Grian's tactic was to be as distant as possible. He would only interact with the people in a certain world when it was absolutely necessary. Though in some worlds a player, as he called them, would get too close for comfort. This person would actually attempt to bond and most likely succeed. In his core, Grian liked interacting with others. Humans are social animals after all. The only reason he wouldn't socialize was because of his Watcher curse. The thing that granted him superhuman power, would also give an extraordinary amount of sadness.   
He woke up from what seemed like an eternity. Though every world jump using Watcher magic was like this. Grian had gotten used to it by then. He had recently died in a world, which sent him to a new residence. This new world was apparently called Hermitcraft, according to a sign at the "spawn" (this name was also on a sign). Grian had been in worlds like this before. They usually had an administrator who could control many aspects of the world like gods. Most times these admins would abuse their power and enslave the rest of the population. Many of these worlds also had respawn, which meant after a "player" died they would be revived. Revival was an interesting topic for Watchers. On one hand, people close to the Watchers could live forever, on the other hand, it meant if a revival based world had become too boring it would be hard to leave. At that point, it would be up to the admin to either kick the Watcher or for the Watcher to somehow break the world. Grian had experienced both many times and knew the world of Hermitcraft would be a bit of a pain to live in. But it could also be a place he could finally settle in. And leave everything else behind. 

The world Hermitcraft was surely an oddity. He had landed on a small island which was the spawn point of the world. A man in a dark helmet with a purple visor looked at the ground, where a groggy Grian was sprawled out on the floor. 

"Hello! Welcome to Hermitcraft!" The mystery man exclaimed. He was clearly excited to see a new face though Grian did not return that feeling. After waiting for a response that never came the man continued his speech.

"I'm Xisumavoid, the admin of this world. We have been awaiting a new player for a long time." 

So this is the admin. I knew there was one. I didn't expect them to be friendly though. Grian thought. The administrator of the world, after seemingly realizing that Grian wouldn't respond and or wasn't awake enough to respond continued talking. 

"My magic has been telling me that a new player would come. Though you're a bit of a special one aren't you?"

Chills ran down Grian's back. How could this Xisumavoid character know about his powers already? Normal admins couldn't detect Watcher magic unless they already knew it was there, which wholly defeated the purpose of checking for magic. Alas, what is the purpose of looking for something when you already know where it is?

"How did you know?" Grian questioned in a raspy voice as beads of sweat started to form on his forehead. He had never deliberately told anyone about being a Watcher. It wasn't something you'd really want to tell people about. Most would assume you're lying. Or in some rare cases hunt you down for being a Watcher. In some societies, Watchers were not welcome.

"I know a lot about you because of the archive. Yet the all-knowing archive will not tell me your name!" The mysterious admin chuckled.

Grian slightly relaxed. He could feel some of the tension leaving his body while he sat up. "Grian" he whispered. It was not a complete sentence and his voice still wasn't totally clear yet, but the administrator of Hermitcraft seemed to understand.

"Well, Grian I'm sure the other Hermits would love to meet you! Oh goodness me! I forgot to explain to you how this world works. First of all, residents of the world call ourselves "Hermits" because of the name of the world itself. That shouldn't need much explanation-," Xisumavoid seemed like he was going to ramble on until Grian decided to stop him.

"Mister Xisumavoid? Can I ask you something?"

"Of course!" The admin crouched down to be level with Grian. "Also just Xisuma is fine."

"Okay, then Xisuma. Can you keep my background away from the other residents? I don't know how I feel about everyone knowing I'm a Watcher."

"I mean I can keep that secret for you, but the Hermits are understanding. They will accept you with open arms no matter who you are. Because they were all once like you, alone, annoyed, saddened by their own experiences. But we all came together and formed a bond so strong that even civil war couldn't break. And come to due time each and every person will share their story with you. And I hope you will share something of your own with them." Xisuma stopped for a second to think. "Enough of that talk! Let's introduce you to the Hermits! After all, you won't know what they really are like until you meet them!" 

With that Xisuma spread his wings and used a rocket to launch himself into the open sky. Grian hadn't noticed the clear bee-like wings on the admin's back. Grian promptly summoned his own feathery wings using his Watcher magic and followed Xisuma, to make sure he didn't get lost in this unfamiliar world where he would soon call home.

Xisuma led him to a central area where many shops sat. They ranged from selling books to selling exotic animals and gear. 

"I organized a meeting with the Hermits to introduce you. Oh right! I haven't given you your communicator yet! I'm sure you'll soon realize that your admin is a derp." Xisuma looked around in the pockets of his armor. Grian had never seen such armor. It was most likely other-worldly, then again he knew next to nothing about this specific world so maybe it was a Hermitcraft thing.

Xisuma's armor was made of many different parts. The topmost layer was a hexagonal chest plate made of metal that was painted yellow. It was quite wethered since there were many places where the paint was actually scraped off, showing the silver underneath. Under the first chest plate, there was another thinner chest piece. This second layer was more malleable and was made from a light gray metal that Grian had never seen before. Under that was a tan shirt of sorts. It was an odd color palate and made Xisuma look a bit like a bee. Maybe that was what he was going for? Of course, that was what he was going for! Grian noticed that the man's helmet also seemed to have a splash of yellow. And a pair of antennae? How could he not notice?

"Oh, here I found it!" Xisuma catches Grian staring at him "What are ya lookin' at?" He asks.

Grian gets snapped out of his trance. Awkwardly he apologized. "Sorry-uh- I've never seen armor quite like that before in all my years of being a Watcher. I'm sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable."

"Oh no! It's okay! This is Voidwalker armor by the way. It's quite cool, isn't it? Though I customized it to look like a bee since I'm a beekeeper this season." Xisuma hands Grian a small device strapped onto a wrist band. "This is your communicator. It notifies you of the chat whenever it buzzes. I'm not going to explain too much since I love watching people figuring out the machine-" 

Both communicators go off. 

Grian was fumbling with the new device. It was a compact piece of machinery, and the constant vibration of the chat was about to drive him into insanity. Then he finally saw it. A small button on the side. When pressed it opened a holographic menu with a holo keyboard. There he can finally read the chat. 

X I heard there was a meeting. When was it again?

2 pm at the shopping district. Please come! There's some important news. :)

Thanks!

what is it about? 

Can't tell. You have to come to the meeting to know! ;)

Okay then-

Grian wanted to say something but he felt a pair of eyes staring at him. He turned around and was met with Xisuma. 

"I see you've finally figured out the communication system! Took you long enough" X teased. He had the chat loaded on his communicator. He pulled up another panel to check the time. "Anyways, it's almost two o'clock. I think it's time to meet the Hermits. But if you don't want your secrets being known, you should probably hide those wings" Xisuma gestured at Grian's wings, unfurled and wrapped around him like a blanket. Grian blushed and realized that his wings were still summoned and promptly hid them away. Watcher wings would be a dead giveaway for his identity.


	2. Meeting the Hermits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grian meets some of the Hermits. Some because there are literally too many.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! It's me again. I was originally going to post this tomorrow, but I was just so exited to finish the second chapter. Thank you for all the positive feed back. It has really made my day(s). I mustn't linger on for any longer. Happy reading! 
> 
> p.s please read the end notes for posting schedule

Xisuma led Grian to a large building, which Grian assumed was the town hall. Inside the building was a grand blue throne. Saying that it was grand probably wouldn't do it justice. This was the largest seat Grian had ever seen and it was completely made out of diamond. Light from the ceiling was cast upon the throne giving it a shimmer. Multi-colored rays were then refracted around the room. 

Just outside the grand hall stood a group of twenty or so people. Grian could feel them staring at him. He shifted slightly behind Xisuma. 

"Hello my friends. I have invited you here today because we have finally received our new Hermit! This is Grian!" X looked back at Grian and gestured at the crowd with his head. Grian took the movement as a sign to move out from behind Xisuma. The crowd of Hermits cheered. 

Grian was not used to the attention. He observed the crowd. It was filled with peculiar-people? There was a green cyborg man, a zombified woman with auburn hair, a blue human-shaped slime dude, and some sort of demon looking character. The rest of the group looked more or less human. Though some of them had pretty odd characteristics. 

While walking down the steps of the town hall, Xisuma introduced Grian to a man in a construction worker outfit. He had short black hair and wore a very surprised but excited expression. This man introduced himself as Keralis and was Xisuma’s neighbor and business partner, as they started a shop together. 

Next to Keralis stood Bdubs, or Bubbles as Keralis called him, a young man with longish brown hair tied back by a red bandana. He was also an entrepreneur and had opened a shop called The Red Zone with another Hermit called xBcrafted. This shop sold redstone a circuit-like mineral that could send signals. These signals would power different machines that motorized mundane tasks. 

The next Hermit Grian met was Doc. Doc was a creeper-human-cyborg hybrid. With green skin, mechanical limbs, and a tall stature Doc seemed very menacing. He also apparently sported a “friendly neighborhood feud” with Bdubs. They would constantly get on each other’s nerves, but Bdubs took it a bit too far and exploded the large goat-head mountain that Doc had carved by hand. There were many more stories to tell but Xisuma had to drag Grian away since ‘there were more people to meet and not enough time’.

So off the pair went to the next excited Hermits that wanted a piece of the action, the ‘Jungle Hermits’. This was a group of four who all lived in the same jungle and built extravagant bases. The most social person being Iskall who had a mechanical eye and wore a green suit. According to him he passionately hated diorite, a rock that seemingly ‘looked like bird poop’ and ‘had to be burnt or exploded at all costs’. A weird hatred to be sure, but a valid one. Though in a world where people could use all sorts of intriguing magic, diorite would probably be the least of one’s problems. Grian decided to not question and moved on to the next Hermit who was waiting to meet him.

That Hermit was Mumbo. He was a very well dressed fellow in a dapper suit. And also exhibited a well-groomed mustache. He seemed like a smart person but was probably just a smartly dressed person. After talking with some of the others, Grian realized that Mumbo was actually quite daft. Yet he was really talented with redstone. Maybe that was just magic. 

Magic was the next Hermit’s specialty. Scar was a wizard who lived in a giant snail. He wore a long grey beard that didn’t look quite natural, which was matched with a long purple robe. Grian noticed that Scar didn’t actually have any trousers on. It seemed as if he ran out of money during his shopping trip. Scar also owned a cat named Jellie, who was a grey and white tabby.

Scar’s closest friend was Cub. A man with a wispy beard and bald head. He was clothed in ancient Egyptian like attire. But it made sense because he resided in a large sandstone pyramid. 

The last ‘Jungle Hermit’ was Stress. She wore very casual clothes, a mere tee shirt with a pink cardigan paired with it, and light blue shorts. She had a flower crown on her head. It was made of many different colored flowers most likely found in the jungle. 

By the time Grian had finished talking to the jungle group, it was already dinner time. Xisuma wanted to be time-efficient didn’t he? That plan didn’t work too well. 

“To welcome Grian to Hermitcraft let’s have a large picnic in the shopping district!” X announced to the group. He was met with cheers of approval. It was slightly weird to Grian as there was no food in sight that afternoon, but somehow the Hermits had whipped up a feast from thin air. A multicolored carpet was spread on the grass at the far end of the district. Someone had brought stake. Another person brought roasted chicken. There was also mushroom stew, weird iridescent carrots, berries, bread, and some shimmering drinks of many colors. 

After the meal, Grian wanted to ask X some questions.

“So, what do you think?” Xisuma asked. 

“This is amazing! How did they get the food?” Grian questioned.

“Oh! You still haven’t found the inventory system have you?” Xisuma laughed.

Grian felt his face heat up. He didn’t know that he was supposed to find that.

“Okay so open your communicator.”

“Yup,”

“Do you see that little button over there?” Xisuma pointed at a square-shaped button on the left of Grian’s field of view.

“Press it.”

Grian pressed the button. A holographic panel appeared in front of him. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. It had thirty-two slots that could store stacks items. There were five extra slots in the top left corner next to a three dimensional model of him. Grian assumed that this inventory was just magic. No other explanation, only magic. He had lived in other respawnable worlds before, but they never had this level of technology. 

“The bar of nine on the bottom is your hotbar. When you open your communicator menu, that will be the first thing you see along with the chat of course. I’m going to throw you this pair of elytra. They are wings, well more like gliders, that are powered by rockets.” Xisuma throws the pair elytra at Grian. 

“Now equip it.”

“How do I-” Grian asked but he was cut off by X

“Open your inventory menu.”

Grian does as Xisuma orders.

“Then drag the elytra to the slot that looks like a chest piece.”

Grian dags the elytra to the right space. Feathery wings appear on his back. They look similar to his Watcher wings, but they don’t actually lift him off of the ground when they flap. These wings also had a slightly purple hue and are much smaller than their magical counterpart.

“Why are mine feathery while yours look like bee’s wings?” Grian asked genuinely curious about the dynamics of his new wings.

“Elytra configure themselves to their owner. Yours’ thought that the feathery form would be best” Xisuma slightly flutters his own wings. 

“So, where will I stay tonight?” Grian asks 

“I suppose you can stay with me tonight. Tomorrow you can spot out a place to build your base in.”

“Okay then!”

With that Xisuma flies into the night sky, leaving Grian stuck on the island, with no rockets or idea on how to use his new wings. X realizes his mistake and glides back to the ground to hand Grian a stack of rockets and instructs him. After a few failed attempts, the pair lifted off into the night sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, did you like it? I personally liked chapter 1 better, but its cool! Well, posting wise, uh, I'm not very good at it. I'm also working on a animation project right now and it's taking up a lot of my time. This was beta read by my wonderful friend that_nerd03. She helped me spell check because I literally cannot spell for my life. Anyways thank you for reading my fanfiction good morning/day/night to you!


	3. Void of the past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got bored and started writing about X. Whoops.

Xisuma’s base was southwest from the shopping district. From a little while away, large concrete towers were visible. These intricate oddly-shaped towers signified X’s base. They were decorated with different colors of concrete and half translucent yellow or green sludge that Grian could not recognize. The sweet smell of honey lingered in the air thus further established Xisuma’s position as a beekeeper. X swooped into the black and yellow framed landing bay he had constructed, Grian did not make such a swish entrance. He had almost crashed into the border of the building, furthermore, he almost plummeted to his demise since his wings decided to fail on him. Xisuma leaned on the west wall watching the humiliating spectacle unfold in front of him.

Grian finally makes his way into the tower, panting. “Your bluming wall almost killed me!”

Xisuma simply shook his head and laughed. “You almost killed yourself! Practice with those wings more would ya?”

“Whatever. So, this is your residence huh?”

“Yup”

“It looks quite nice here.”

“Indeed, I attempted to combine functionality with aesthetics. I

would give you a tour, though now is not the time. The jungle floor would be filled to the brim with monsters right now, and you’re not a great flyer yet. Well. you should probably sleep, so you can go on a world tour tomorrow.”

“Right then, where will I be sleeping?”

“Uh, here I guess.” Xisuma led Grian to the middle of the room, where there was a bed, an ender chest, and some other essential items.

Grian was quite tired, so the moment he laid on the bed he was fast asleep.

━━━━━━━━┓ ✠ ┏━━━━━━━━

Xisuma was stressed beyond belief. The new Hermit, Grian, was sleeping across the room, his Watcher wings curled around him acting like a blanket. Xisuma would have to tell Grian that he would have to break some habits soon to keep his identity secret. It wasn’t like that secret was going last anyways. The world of Hermitcraft had never housed a Watcher before, so Xisuma knew that many world distortions would occur. There wasn’t much he could do about it, even with the extra help of his archive magic.

X’s suspicions were confirmed quite quickly when Joe private messaged him.

<joehillssays-whispered to-Xisuma>I think the sun is stuck in the sky. It’s been there for a few hours.

<Xisuma-whispered to-joehillssays>I will get there as soon I can.

Xisuma hadn’t noticed the warm rays of sunlight seeping into his base through the landing bay. Before Joe had messaged him he had definitely not realized it was morning already. He hadn’t slept at all, but it wasn’t like he slept much these days. The weeks before Grian’s arrival were filled with problems Xismuma had to troubleshoot. And those world bugs were not leaving anytime soon. A sleepless day quickly became a sleepless week. He had almost gone a month without slumber until he downright collapsed at Keralis’ place, who had promptly ushered Xisuma home to at least take a nap. X reluctantly agreed since he knew his friend would not stop unless he got his way.

The morning chills were a welcome slap in the face. Even though he had not slept a wink, Xisuma felt like he just woke up. He was bone tired from the events from the day before. But now it was time to head to Joe’s winery. X tried to take off, but impaled himself onto a jungle tree. After cursing himself for almost dying to a tree, X continued his trip to Joe’s base. Not before making several wrong turns of course.

When arriving at the world’s first winery about an hour later, Xisuma had indeed realized that the sun had indeed not risen at all. The admin in bee armor pulled up a communicator tab to check the time. It was 7:03 AM. During normal circumstances it would not look like early morning. But this was certainly not any normal day. After talking to Joe, who had provided him with some complimentary booze, Xisuma started fixing the issue. He hoped that it would be resolved before too many Hermits took notice.

Xisuma was suspended in void. Darkness as far as the eye can see. A wispy red figure approached him.

“Hello?” Xisuma questioned.

“Hello, Xisuma”, The voice sounded like it was made using a voice emulator of some sort.

“Who are you?” Xisuma asked. He was banished to the eternal void. A large magical enforcement barrier surrounded the place making it so that no one could enter or leave. Whatever that red thing was, it shouldn't have been there.

“I am you.” The figure wrapped its body around Xisuma. A chill ran through his body. It had no feeling against his skin but when it phased through him his breathing was obstructed. The smoke shimmered and a helmeted face emerged. The helmet was very similar to Xisuma’s own. Though instead of being purple, the visor was red. This persons’ eyes were also red.

“What are you even here for? I’m stuck in the void because of you. And you’re not even supposed to be here in the first place.” Xisuma snarled. He had finally figured out who this was. This was his ‘evil clone’. The physical embodiment of his own hatred and malice. Evil X as he called himself was created by Xisuma’s emotions. After he was created Evil X decimated the end city, killing many of its occupants. The end council was not pleased. They sentenced Xisuma to the eternal void as a substantial threat.

“Well, my friend. I know I haven't been too helpful to you. So I’m here to strike up a deal. I get you out of this place, then you grant me a physical form.” Evil X created a torso with the particles of his ‘body’ and placed his gloved hands on Xisuma’s shoulders.

“I’ve been stuck here for so many years. Why are you choosing to help me now?”

“Eh, I’ve gotten bored of scaring them.” Evil X pointed to the void. “I want more power now Xisuma.”

“Well, then. How are you going to get me out of here?” Xisuma smirked

“Now we’re talking.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this! I posted this a few hours later than I'd originally liked to due to writers block. I scrapped half of the chapter because I though it was dumb. Anyway, thank you for reading this, comments are appreciated, and good morning/day/night to you!!!!!


	4. Sleep is For The Weak(and maybe Xisuma)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for not updating on Wednesday. I did not have the motivation to write. I hope you enjoy the chapter! (also feedback is appreciated)

A light tap on the shoulder jostled him awake. Xisuma was still sitting in Joe’s winery with his admin panels open. The lush green grass soft underneath him. Joe stood behind him.

“Hello sleepyhead”, Joe said with a small smile on his face.

“I’m sorry. I’ll get right back to it. I’m just a bit off my rocker today. I’ll get the bug fixe-.”

“No, it’s okay! Everything’s good. The world may have gone into overdrive when Grian arrived, but it sorted out some of the kinks by itself.” Joe stuck out his hand to Xisuma who was sitting in the field with his knees up to his chest. X took the hand to stand up but immediately felt dizzy. He leaned on Joe, who was not prepared for the extra weight.

“Woah, there buddy! Are you okay?” Joe asked. Xisuma stabilized himself and tried to rub his eyes but soon realized that his helmet was in the way. He took off the bulky helmet just to almost drop it on the floor. 

“I think you should go home and get some rest my friend,” 

“No, no, no, no, I’m fine. I guess I should leave now.” X stumbled when he tried to take off. He tried to fly a second time and successfully got off the ground. Joe followed suit. 

“Come on, you think I’d just leave you? X, we’re getting you home.”

“Thank you, my friend.”

The aerial view was beautiful. Symmetrical lines of sweet berry bushes covered the hilled landscape, giving it a red color. Where the berries didn’t grow, grass carpeted the area. Growing and maintaining the area must have taken a substantial amount of time. Joe had originally owned an abundance of cows, but when Xisuma complained about the numerous glitches he had to fix, the cows were slaughtered and replaced with berries. Joe still possessed a large amount of something, at least it wasn’t distortion-causing cows. 

Moving swiftly on from the vineyard. After flying for quite a while, the shopping district could be viewed from above. A great number of shenanigans originated from the wacky yet lovely area of the Hermitcraft world. One such antic was the mayoral race. A small handful of the best builders in the world decided that the shopping district needed authority of some kind. The large diamond pile that once stood in the center of the cowmercial district was rearranged into the form of a substantially sized throne. A beautiful building that was meant to be the town hall of the world housed the seat of interest. There were many candidates who wanted to sit on the diamond throne. Joe was also a contestant, but he wasn't running for mayor per se. Joe was in fact running for dogcatcher, a position that the Hermits didn’t know they needed until dogs started popping up everywhere. 

Xisuma was still overwhelmed by fatigue and felt himself slipping in and out of a sleeping state midair. Every time that happened he would fire a rocket in hope the slight speed boost would wake him up a bit, though it was no use. X had been walking on the tightrope of lassitude for days, any small misstep would leave him plummeting to the ground, albeit literally. 

The sound of rushing wind suffused X’s ears when he suddenly snapped awake. He was barreling towards the ground in a nosedive. He tried to turn but his wings wouldn’t work. Of course, if he did indeed hit the ground, he wouldn’t permanently die due to respawn, but death was always a hindrance. And, with Grian’s arrival, it would be smart to act more cautious. Who knows what could go wrong? Xisuma was panicking a lot now. His wings still wouldn’t work. The spamming of rockets did nothing. Luckily Joe was not too far away. He wrapped his arms around Xisuma and glided the pair down to safety. It was a comforting notion that Xisuma deeply appreciated. 

Once they had landed on the floor Xisuma opened his inventory to find that his elytra had run out of durability. That was why they didn’t work. Which was much better than the alternative explanajltion of the elytra mechanics in the world being broken. A broken mechanic was quite a pain to fix and X didn’t believe he could currently think clearly enough to patch a bug of that kind. After thanking Joe for saving him from death, X walked off to the communal nether portal, which was located under the town hall. The same place where he had introduced Grian to the Hermits a day prior. I should have used the nether portal in the first place. X thought. Not using the portal, in his opinion, just caused a lot more trouble. That was certainly one of many “derp moments” which have occurred so far in his day. 

Stepping into the magical purple swirls that the nether portal was made of, teleported Xisuma to the nether hub. It was once located on the nether roof made of seemingly unbreakable bedrock. Though to the Hermits, nothing was indestructible, because Impulse had figured out a way to tear a hole in the nether roof. Breaking the bedrock may have also cost a loss of life, but if no one mentioned it, everything would be fine. The nether hub had relocated to under the bedrock after new biomes were discovered. This new nether hub was quite a bit less orderly, and perhaps slightly more confusing. But Xisuma had somehow made it back to his base without taking too many wrong turns. 

Once returning back to the overworld, X was originally going to jump off the side of the twin creeper farm towers and fly to his storage room where a bed resided, but he had no elytra as well as no intention to get hurt. So, he plopped down an ender chest he scavenged from his inventory. 

“Okay.” Xisuma whispered to himself. “No” he moved his hand to the next slot to read the contents of that shulker box. “No.” The next box “Nope.” And the next “Not that one.” Still no luck “No.’ X was getting annoyed. Where was the shulker full of backup supplies? He knew it was somewhere. He definitely had one. “Yes!!” He found the stupid box. The lord and savior, an extra pair of wings. 

Xisuma equipped the elytra and flew to his storage room.  
━━━━━━━━┓ ✠ ┏━━━━━━━━  
Grian awoke to the sun shining in his face due to the lack of doors. The admin of Hermitcraft, Xisuma, was already awake and was most likely fixing something in the world. At least this was the conclusion Grian had come to. He had actually woken up in the middle of the night for a few minutes and saw Xisuma typing away at a holographic keyboard. Xisuma appeared to be a busy guy. 

Grian noticed that he summoned his Watcher wings instead of wearing his new elytra wings. He did need flying practice since elytra were different from his normal wings. Grian took off from the black and yellow landing bay with the launch of a rocket. The wind blew his hair into his eyes which obstructed his vision. At least there were no trees in sight. Or that would have been an unpleasant experience. 

He found himself flying in one direction but soon lost track of where he was when Xisuma’s base could no longer be seen. At some point, Grian had ended up in the jungle. But it was a seemingly different jungle. A sizable unfinished tree could be viewed from a distance. Once Grian was closer to ground level, he spotted a magical village. The landscape was splendid. Large trees grew on the ends of a midair walkway. Well, these trees were much smaller than the giant unfinished oak tree Grian spotted in the distance, but these trees dwarfed the jungle trees that were already quite big in their own regard. 

Grian was just walking around the overpass enjoying the view, when Scar flew in.

“Why hello there!” Scar announced a beaming smile on his face. 

“Hello- Scar is it?” Grian faltered

“Yep!” Scar affirmed still grinning profusely “Do you want a tour?”

“I would absolutely love a tour of this beautiful area!” Grian was thrilled at the opportunity of taking a tour of the aforementioned landscape. Speckled red mushrooms dotted the area. Bamboo grew in plentiful chunks. Stunning wooden houses were built on the forest floor, they really drove the idea of a magical village home. The centerpiece was a large blue crystal. Azure particles surrounded the mineral showering the surrounding area in a whimsical glow. In the distance there stood an ominous tower, seemingly falling apart. The top of the structure was curved at an unnatural angle. It could have fallen over at any second, but a supernatural force held it in place. Drifting to the ground floor, Grian noticed a large snail, which was apparently scar’s humble abode. Stepping into said residence would present one with an unforeseen surprise. Miscellaneous storage littered the inside, rendering most of its contents useless. It was basically impossible to find anything in this monstrous depository. A much tidier bedroom resided on the second level. 

The tour concluded in the snail, and Scar sent Grian off. Grian decided to admire the village while practicing his flying skills. He flew through the villa and headed toward a mansion. The manor was mostly grey and teal, with some greenery on the outside. It was a grand place, but cobwebs covered the place. Grian couldn’t fathom why such a beautiful residence would be left in such a state. He made a mental note to ask the hermits, and zoomed off to the next place that caught his eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! Thank you for reading! Have an amazing morning/day/night!!!!!!!  
> I now owe you my soul for reading this crappy fanfic. Also! Let me know if you guys would like to see my character sketches.   
> *Shameless self promo incoming*  
> This is my Youtube!   
> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHN9kVegu1lP1yzNrhhjuRw?  
> I attempt to animate and draw.   
> Anyways. I'm flattered you chose to read this. Goodbye!


	5. It's a Beautiful Place, But Where Did It Come From?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow I actually posted. I guess the original posting schedule is out of the question.

Why is there an abandoned mansion next to Scar’s place?  
Whaaaat?  
There is no such thing  
No way  
Can someone meet me here?  
Cords?  
I don’t know?  
I’m on a mountain outside of Scar’s place?  
Just outside the Jungle  
As far as I know, there is literally nothing there.  
omw  
Huh, sounds interesting. I guess I’ll go too.  
If the whole jungle’s checking it out I might as well go take a look.

Grian looked around, awaiting the presence of the others currently in the area. Scar flew by first. 

“When did this get here?” Scar was awestruck. A magnificent manor had appeared out of nowhere. 

“I thought you’d know. Since you’ve been living here-” Grian trailed off. He was concerned that no one knew where the building came from. 

“Nope.”

Out of the corner of his eyes, Grina saw glistening red wings. They belonged to Mumbo Jumbo. 

“Blimey. That’s amazing!” Mumbo gushed.

“It is.” A voice with a Swedish accent replied. 

“Wow it's absolutely gorgeous,” A female voice exclaimed. 

The whole jungle gang was present, but judging from their reactions no one had seen the mansion before.

“Odd isn’t it. None of you have seen it before, which means it had to have spawned right when I got here.” Grian reasoned.

“True, I live right there.” Scar pointed at his village “And, I’ve never seen this manor before. I’m pretty sure I’m not that unobservant.”

“Yeah, It’s quite hard to miss. I mean I also live nearby. That tower’s pretty high up.” Mumbo justred at an ancient-looking stone tower. “I’d most likely be able to see something of this size. I also visit Scar’s place quite often.” Mumbo agreed.

“Well, it’s not like standing here will really do anything. Why don’t we give Grian some base tours? Maybe along the way, we’ll be able to figure something out.” Stress suggested. 

“Sounds good to me!” Grian was excited. He would finally see the rumored ‘grand bases’ that the Hermits built.

“Same here, though Grian’s already had a tour of my area.”

“The Omega Tree would be open to a tour!”

“Why not? I mean my base isn’t finished, but none of ours really are.”

“It settled then! I get to see all of your amazing residences! I can’t wait to get started!”

For the whole afternoon, Grian followed the residents of the jungle to their respective homes. The first was Mumbo’s futuristic ruins. Angular white concrete wedges surrounded a large stone ruin. The centerpiece was at least three times as tall as the wedges surrounding it. Though the concrete structures themselves were already larger than life. The interior was slightly lackluster compared to the outside, but that was guaranteed. Mumbo had been focusing on the exterior. So for now, it was only a grand spectacle.

Iskall’s, Omega Tree was next. The tree only had its lowest ring of branches built, but it was already quite the sight. Diving into the hollow trunk would reveal a receding pile of diamonds. It was still big, but nowhere near its’ former glory. Large roots then split off from the main body. These hollow roots contained many of the bare necessities required to live. A bed, crafting area, nether portal, and a vault dedicated to 12 pieces of bamboo. Iskall promised himself that those pieces will one day be invested into something of great importance. Outside of the tree, a small shack housed the next necessity. A machine that blew up all diorite, which was gifted by the Boomers, a group of three who would blow up anything for pay. 

The last place of interest was Stress’s haven at the edge of the jungle. When he flew by, Grian was greeted with a large glass rainbow. The rainbow led to a massive caldron, which contained a-not as beautiful- super smelter. Back on the outside, colorful stained glass butterflies were suspended in midair. They gave the area a very colorful vibe. This was by far the most vibrant area Grian had visited.

After a day packed full of base related action, Grian decided he had to sleep somewhere for the night, and Xisuma’s place was definitely out of the question. The admin had already done so much and was probably getting weary of Grian’s antics. He could stay with someone in the jungle since he did spend most of the day with them. But Grian thought he would be self-sufficient and the mansion would be interesting to explore.

Walking towards an ominous manor at night time is very different from approaching one in broad daylight. The grand scale of the mansion casted an intimidating shadow. The exterior held a spectacular opulence even in the darkness. Blue soul-flame lanterns lit up the companionway. The main stairwell split in two at the middle of the building, Two smaller flights of stairs extended towards the ground. Small sub-sections of the mansion surrounded the stairs further enlarging the already massive building. As if that wasn’t enough, the manor was built in a semi-circular fashion. So when Grian stood at the base of the left stairwell the building surrounded him. Grian started ascending the stairs. He reached the supposed main door to realize that it was actually just a front. A wooden plank fixed to the wall. Feeling quite foolish, Grian walked down the same stairs he had just been on a moment ago.   
I should have known that it wouldn’t be this easy. Grian thought.   
After reaching the ground floor yet again, Grian noticed an opening through the space between the stairs he had not noticed before. A grand hall was up ahead, its; bright lights enticing Grian like a moth to a flame. He was intrigued by how he failed to notice the jarring a-frame that contoured the opening. 

Large wooden beams supported the prismarine-brick ceiling that was at least thirty meters high. Lanterns hung from horizontal beams on the ceiling. At eye level, small storage silos surrounded an indent which contained living essentials. Grain coughed as he walked in. He waved his hand around hoping that some of the dust would vacate. Oddly enough the bed in the middle of the room had not a single particle of dust one it. Grian wanted to explore some more, but the prospect of sleeping on a lair fit for a king was too inviting. Though sleeping in a place where no one knew the origins of probably wasn’t a stellar idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for only one update this week. I've been working on some Hermitcraft-related animations and I can't wait to show them to all of you! Sadly, animation is a tedious process and takes loads of time. So, that's what I've been up to this week. Also thank you so so so so much for 700 hits. I never thought a stupid little fanfiction idea of mine would get so much attention!  
> So yeah, thank you all so much for reading. And thank my friend for proofreading some of the story for me!  
> I don't know when I'm going to post next. Sorry.


	6. Fears? No Need To Face Them! Just Fly Away!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry.... I was super unmotivated to write last week. Also my cradles animation meme literally look over my life. So yeah now that's said and done, enjoy the chapter!

“Shashwammyvoid!” An excited Keralis barged into Xisuma’s storage room where he was sleeping.

“Yes?” Xisuma answered sluggishly, while sitting up, his chestnut brown hair falling just above his shoulders.

“Good morning!”

“You too, Keralis. Wait, it’s morning already?”

“Uh-huh. Why?”

Xisuma facepalmed. “I slept through the whole day! Well anyway. Any, uh, new developments?”

“Straight to the point aren’t ya Shashwammy. You know, that’s actually why I came here.” Keralis exclaimed. “Apparently Grian found a strange mansion in the other jungle. I thought we could go take a little look-see.” 

In Xisuma’s sentiment, a building appearing from seemingly nowhere was not a good sign. 

“I guess I should go take a look, huh? Give me a few minutes to get ready, then I’ll go explore with ya.”

“Okay!” Keralis walked to the open landing bay, relishing the early morning view. A golden haze was cast on treetops and buildings. The sky was coated pastel colors and clouds with a paint-like quality. 

Xisuma pulled on his helmet and fastened the bottom clip. He then called up an inventory panel and admin panel. Using the inventory he equipped the rest of his bee-themed armor and elytra. He glanced over to the right where the admin panel was. A glaring error message appeared, then another, then another, until the holographic screen was chock full of . Coordinates were also given. Plugging the aforementioned numbers into a map leading to a point near Scar's village.

“Hey, Keralis?”

“Hm?”

“Could you come look at this?”

“Yep!” Keralis promptly walked over to Xisuma who was sitting on the floor at the opposite side of the room. He looked over Xisuma’s shoulder. X was pointing at a spot on the map.

“This is where we’re going, right?”

“I think so? I haven’t been there myself. I mean that’s why I’m asking you.”

“I’m ready, so let's go!”

A short mid-air planning session later, Xisuma and Keralis successfully landed on the manor’s doorstep, literally. After admiring the mansion’s grandeur, like every other Hermit that has ever laid eyes on the building, the two friends stood in front of the manor with swords and rockets at hand. They were ready to bail, if necessary. X also had an extra panel open to detect potential threats before they had a chance to strike. 

Keralis actually walked in first though he immediately dashed right out due to the sudden influx of dust striking his lungs. 

“Woah, it’s dusty in there” Keralis rasped as a wave of coughs hit him

“Huh, really? That’s a bit odd. It’s always nice to have a wearable air filter, am I right?” Xisuma said alluding to his helmet. 

X felt a light jab on his left side and turned to see Keralis pointing the tip of his enchanted sword at him.

“Ouch!” X yelped. “This is a serious mission Keralis! I don’t want to get hurt before we even get anything done!” Xisuma exclaimed while choking back laughter. 

Keralis, with a smirk on his face, walked forward without a word but was then met with another coughing fit.

“Well, to continue, we’ll need to get you something that’ll help you breathe” X reached into a pouch of his belt. After rummaging around for a few seconds Xisuma produced a white handkerchief., which he tied around Keralis’ nose and mouth. 

“Better now?” Keralis replied with a curt nod. They walked into the grand hall. The space was very well lit, so mob spawning wasn’t a problem, though Xisuma’s detector still found something. Dust was everywhere creating a powdery fog. The mansion must have been abandoned for quite a long time to create this much grime, yet the colors looked very bright. 

Keralis ran towards the middle and almost fell into a small trench where a royalty-worthy bed resided. 

“Shashwammyvoid! There’s a bed here.” Keralis paused to more closely inspect the area. “Wait! There’s actually someone here?” He turned to face the door. Keralis couldn’t quite make out who it was though. 

That immediately sparked Xisuma’s attention, who rushed over and fell into Keralis, pushing both of them into the pit. 

“Ouch! Shashwammy, you’re crushing me!”

“S-sorry” Xisuma stammered. He quickly got up in order to not suffocate his friend. 

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, my elbow hurts a bit since it hit the floor first, but other than that I’m perfectly fine.”

“That’s good. Also, did you notice the, uh, stairs we fell right next to.”

“Are you serious?” Keralis questioned, cradling his throbbing elbow. “This is all your fault!” he jokingly teased.

“I suppose so.” Xisuma moved so he was next to Keralis who was still sprawled out on the wooden floor and layed down right next to him. He could now view the majestic high ceiling  
“This is really well built. Laying here on this dusty wood floor really puts this place into perspective huh?” X said while observing the ceiling above him. 

“Yeah, this is big”

“Aw come on, it’s only big? This place is humongous!” X exclaimed. A chorus of laughs echoed around the hall. That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. A rustle of feathers alarmed X. He pulled Keralis from off the ground.

“Stay behind me.”

Keralis gave a questioning look and complied with X’s demands.

Large Ivory wings retracted, revealing a familiar red sweater. 

“Isn’t that the new guy, Grain?” Keralis whispered

“You mean Grian?”

“Grian, Grain, same thing!”

‘Shh…!”

“Good morning Grian!” Xisuma proclaimed, then shortly realized that he had made a very stupid decision. 

Startled, Grian reflexively jumped up and hovered a few feet in the air. 

“Oh, it’s just you. Wait what are you doing here?” Grian questioned when he saw Xisuma standing in the corner of the ‘bedroom’ area, 

“My friend Keralis informed me about this mansion, so I thought we’d take a look. I believe you’ve met him? Also your wings?” 

“Oh right! I wasn’t prepared for someone to scout me out!” The wings disappeared with a glittery purple shimmer. 

“No, no, no, I get it. Though, someone else may have already seen them.” X looked behind him where Keralis was huddled in the corner. “Keralis you can come out now.” 

Grian looked panicked, and raised his hand, emitting a gray light. 

“Grian why are you so scared? No one's going to hurt you.”

With that Grian flew out to door in a flash, leaving X pondering about what Grian had experienced to cause such a reaction. When he had met the new Hermit, Grian hadn’t explained why he chose to keep secret. X just assumed something may have happened in the past, but now he was seriously intrigued.   
━━━━━━━━┓ ✠ ┏━━━━━━━━  
Grian woke up confused. He’d had a weird dream that night. Everything was so hauntingly familiar, yet unrecognizable at the same time. He was sure had seen many of the Hermits, though Grian still couldn’t recognize most of them. In the beginning of the dream he was being welcomed by the Hermits, similarly to a few days prior, but there were a few key differences. The first thing that stood out to Grian was that he was not in a bustling shopping district, instead he stood in a semicircle with the Hermits,, on an island. 

Then the landscape shifted, Grian was now in the sea, fending himself off from undead monsters called Drowned. Apparently his dream-self was trying to build some sort of underwater dome, but kept getting mascreed by water zombies. 

The world shifted again, now he was flying around a newly built futuristic base. There was only one layer, but dream Grian was very proud of it. 

A time skip after another, Grian kept dreaming about another life with the Hermits. A friendly civil war, a store made with state of the art redstone technology, and a game of death, were all things Grian had dreamt about. 

When he woke up Grian felt like he had lived that reality. It was a weird feeling. A part of him really believed the dream happened, he got booted into the same world twice, but lost his memory of it. Due to his Watcher abilities, that simply couldn’t be possible. Yes, his memory wasn’t perfect, Grian couldn’t remember the first world he was in very well, but it made no sense to forget a whole world, especially one so action packed. The dream certainly felt like memories but they couldn’t be real, unless his own magic had something to do with the disappearance of that chunk of time. 

Being a Watcher, Grian had a pair of wings and a bit of memory magic up his sleeve. It was slightly poetic in a way. A person who retained memories of their past lives, could also create or change the memories of others. Grian never really used his memory altering abilities. They felt ingenuine, like cheating your way through a game. You got to the end, but it wasn’t rewarding. You never earned it. Though by using his magic seldomly, Grian got himself into many situations that could have been fixed with the snap of his fingers. 

Grian laid in bed thinking. His wings wrapped around him like a blanket. He heard some slight shuffling after moving his wings around a bit, but didn’t pay much attention to it. He was in a large manor and houses tend to make noises, so Grian convinced himself that nothing was there. That worked until made out soft whispers coming from the same direction the shuffling had come from. He hastily got out of bed to inspect his surroundings, that's when Grian heard Xisuma bidding him a good morning. He quickly jumped up into the air. Even though the sounds were suspicions Grian subconsciously agreed on them not being more than old house noises. Hearing X’s voice initiated Grian’s fight or flight mode. 

Even with his extra powers, Grian was at no means a good fighter. Being a Watcher did not add any strength, almost contrary, it took away all of Grian’s need to participate in combat. When flying away was so accessible, why would he need to fight? 

When he saw Keralis, Grian panicked. He knew that the Hermits probably would’t hurt him, but subconsciously fear persisted. The things people did to him just because he had magic were unspeakable. Some who did not understand, accused Grian of witchcraft. Though that wasn’t too far off. Grian wasn’t scared of death, he had gotten used to it, but he could never get accustomed to pain. 

All that was in his mind was flee. So, with a spurt of energy that’s exactly what Grian did. He flew out of the mansion. He flew until he could no longer see civilization. Grian knew his fear was irritational. He saw the Hermits as good people ecspecially since the dream. Oh how he longed to be in that world. A world where he could just be himself, not in fear of anything. Wouldn’t that be nice?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! And again thank you all for the nice comments! In the beginning of the story a comment asked me why I didn't start in season six. I didn't really have an answer, but ever since then I've had this idea in my head. I'm so glad that someone pointed that out. Now I have a new mechanic to mess with! I mean this whole fanfiction is literally just me practicing writing. Anyways again, thank you so much for reading this crap. And I'll see you guys next post (who knows when that will be). I'm swamped with business. (10 imaginary points to whoever gets that reference)
> 
> Good morning/day/night!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow I'm live. Here you go! Enjoy! I know I have a very sporadic upload schedule. That's because I only write when I have most of the plot thought out, and that takes me a while.

“Hey! Wels! Get up!”

“Come on! You can’t be this tired!”

“Wake up! Please?”

“Hello?”

“Wels?”

The chorus of voices beckoning him to awaken faded into obscurity. Wels could hear them all, but he just couldn’t snap out of the sleep-induced coma. Besides, it was soothing to not have to do anything. Soon he fell into eternal slumber, well not really eternal. Though it was still quite a long time.

Wels finally awoke. He could still hear the voices of his friends calling out to him, yet there was no one there, and there hadn’t been for a while. He yawned, then spoke out to absolutely no one. 

“That was a long nap!” His voice was no more than a whisper. Wels tried to prop himself up using his arms. The joints in his shoulders popped painfully and his muscles felt weak as if he had not used them in months. Though that was precisely what had happened. While moving the blanket, small particles of dust floated into the air, giving Wels a sense of elapsed time. He checked the communicator sitting on his bedside table. 

It was the start of summer. The last message had been sent in early spring, and the last time Wels had ever said anything in the chat was mid-fall. It was then he realized, the Hermits had probably moved on to Season Seven. The only other option was that they all up and died somehow, which was not only super unlikely but also very worrying. As a last-ditch effort, Wels sent off a message to the chat. Yes, no one was in the Season Six area, but he assumed that someone must’ve still retained a connection to the chat. 

Hello?  
Can anyone see this?  
If you can please send help! I’m stuck  
Thanks!

Wels clumsily got out of bed, almost tripping over the boots on the floor. He then slowly walked over to his wardrobe, where the rest of his knight’s armor, tools, and elytra were stored. After equipping his armor, adding the tools into his inventory, and grabbing a few other items, Wels suddenly felt extremely hungry. Granted he had been asleep for a few months and hadn’t eaten anything (as if one could eat when they were sleeping). He stumbled his way to the kitchen. Miraculously all of his food was where he left it. 

After a very large meal, Wels walked outside. He wanted to see what the other Hermits were doing, and help had not arrived yet so there was time to kill. Thus, he opened the front door of his village home and was blinded by the midday light. Once his eyes had adjusted, Wels could see four large buildings. 

They towered over the rest of the village. One of the buildings on the left was a very tall and slender stack of small wooden homes, all piled on top of each other in a way that defied gravity. A fire breathing dragon made of terracotta guarded the tower. Just behind it were two other buildings. One looked like the builder had given up halfway and stuck a large white flag of surrender on top of the build. The other tower’s base was a modern house but slowly evolved to a large fish tank that contained another house that had hundreds of colorful balloons strung on it. And then a mini skyscraper then a moon base with a very large dabbing clay penguin stacked on top of the already bizarre-looking home. Lasers and fireballs dotted the sky, leading Wels’ eyes to the other side. 

A large plant monster wrapped a fleeing spaceship in its vines. This same beast was shooting lasers towards the stack of spruces houses. That laser was somehow deflected all over the place, punching a hole here, and tearing off a tower there. A small stone castle was hoisted on the top of the building by large vines and stalks. Wels was going to fly up to inspect the area but-

An explosion of pain hit his head all at once. It was worse than anything he had ever felt. Wels crumpled to the floor unable to do anything except wait for the headache to leave. Pure agony dwelled in his head for what seemed like hours. In reality, it was only a couple of seconds. The ache disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. Wels’ relief was incomprehensible. He looked up. The tower of houses was gone. Wels rubbed his eyes. Wait, that can’t be right. But it was gone. No matter how many times he blinked or scoped the area, the building did not return.

Wels spread his elytra, which had the appearance of brown eagle wings that faded to white at the tips of the feathers, and flew towards the nether portal in the village center. While flying through the long tunnels through the nether, all Wels could do was think. What if no one saved him? He couldn’t fathom living in the Season Six area alone. He loved the area, but the best part was when everyone was there. Without the rest of the Hermits, the world was no longer a haven. On the contrary, it was more like a prison.  
You never realize you’d miss people until they’re gone, don’t you? Wels spoke to himself.  
Oh, come on! A voice in his head rebutted. You can’t be engulfed in self-pity already. It’s only been two hours at most. They’ll come for you. You can wail in despair later.   
The back and forth between Wels and his imaginary companion continued throughout the flight until he reached the main nether hub, a mini-map of the large island where most of the season took place. 

“Why hello there!”

“Huh? Oh, hi Cub!”

“You seemed startled.”

“Oh, no no I’m very relieved. I thought no one would come.” Wels smiled at Cub, who returned the gesture. 

“Anyway, we’ll get you home.”

“Okay, but how do we get out of here?”

“I’ll send a message to X” Cub pressed a button on his communicator, pulling up a chat menu. From over Cub’s shoulder, Wels could see the messages he had sent earlier in the day.

X I’ve found him we can go back now. 

Dark purple flames encompassed Wels’ and Cub’s bodies. 

“Cub! What is this?” Wels questioned while lifting his hand out of the flame.

“I think it’s some type of void teleportation magic.”

“Huh. Specifically, void teleportation?”

“Indeed. Only void magic could take us this far. It’s one of the most powerful magic in this world, almost matching the strength of Watcher magic. Though unlike the Watchers’ powers, void magic and others present in Hermitcraft do not extend outside our humble world.”

“If they did, half of us would be gods wouldn-”

Wels’ feet burst into purple shards. Purple cracks started forming on his skin and armor. Slowly the parts with the fractures would shatter into purple pieces. He was watching himself disappear. It was an odd feeling, sure, but it was intriguing seeing himself cease to exist, if only for a moment. Wels closed his eyes and for a fraction of a second everything was quiet. He was no one, nowhere, staring at the void. Was this what death felt like? But he was pulled out of his thoughts by the blazing light of daytime.

“Welcome to Hermitcraft Season Seven, Welsknight.”

“Why hello there X!”

“Hello my friend, long time no see!”

“Yeah, do you know what happened? I just felt really tired one day and now I’m here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for more than 1K hits! I never though a stupid thing I wrote at 3 AM would get this far! And I did actually write this chapter at 3 AM on three to four different days of course. Thank you so much for reading, I don't have very much to say. So, thanks for stopping by, comments are appreciated, and last of all have a good morning/day/night!


	8. Who Are You?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I updated.....

“Come on, there’s so much more to see!” Xisuma was dragging Wels around the season seven area.  
Wels could not fathom how X was not tired by then, they had been touring the area for hours. It seemed as if flying around the world gave X energy of some sort. 

“Please, can we stop for a while?”

“You’re tired?” 

“Yes. How are you not? I swear you never have this much energy.”

“Oh really? I guess I’ve been on a bit of a roll today, huh? I have the feeling that I forgot to tell you something very important.”

Wels stared into distance, his eyes landed on the G.O.A.T.’s mountain. Its ivory horns stood out from the pale grey of the stone. Even further was the wooden mansion split in half by Bdubbs and Doc. It was from the season six area, yet Wels had no recollection of who built it. This train of thought was disrupted by Xisuma.

“I remembered! A new ‘player’ arrived. His name is Grian and-”

“Does he wear a red sweater and have a very peculiar pair of wings?”

“How do you-?”

“It was just a hunch. This seems a bit off topic but, this morning after I woke up. I saw these giant towers in the village. There were originally four, but one disappeared in front of my eyes! After that I got a killer headache.”

“Your hunch is eerily correct”

Wels pondered about how he could have known about a person he had never met before. Unless he had met Grian in different circumstances. But that simply wasn’t possible with the way worlds worked. Then again, no one, not even Watchers with their immense powers, knew for sure how the universe functioned. Everything he knew was speculation after all, what if things like that could really work somehow? 

Wels didn’t know much about how the universe worked, in fact he didn’t even know how Hermitcraft, his home, worked. Certain players were spawned with magical powers, while others were not. The most powerful players’, Watchers, powers transcended worlds and so did their memories of other worlds after death. Some players had special ranks, like Admins, and could control some aspects of their worlds. Though like other powers, specialty ranks did not transfer to other existences. Players could also be born as different races depending on the world but not every race had players. It was a confusing mess of information that Wels had given up trying to disassemble long ago. 

Only if I had an unlimited life. Wels though then, maybe, one day, he could figure it out. 

“A peculiar pair of wings!” Wels exclaimed. Maybe he had figured something out after all.

“Huh?”  
“The wings! Grian is a Watcher. Only Watchers have pure white feathery wings! The elytra can’t make wings that look like that. Even then, those wings would still need rockets. In Season Six Grian was happily flying around without rockets.”

“You’re not wrong. Grian is a Watcher but the Grian I know would never tell anyone that secret.” 

“Maybe they’re different people?”

“No, that wouldn’t make sense, Grian has the same overall personality. The only thing that’s different is a badly kept secret.”

“Then something must have happened between this Season and the last.” Wels concluded. But what could have happened? Why would Grian suddenly need to hide a part of himself?

“You know Wels, I think we’re slipping further and further away from the realm of possibility.”

“Maybe we are, maybe we’re not. Who knows? This may just be realistic. Anyway, I think I’m going to leave. I have a great idea for a starter house!”

“Right. Then see ya later!”

“See you later X!”

Wels wanted to pick out a spot for his new house, but he couldn’t focus. Theories were brewing in his mind and he couldn’t stop thinking. What if there was an alternate reality. What if he was living in a different version of the world before all of this happened? Maybe there was a memory wipe? Wels’ ideas became more and more outlandish as time went on. He had finally picked out a good place to build, but it was already dusk by the time Wels started clearing out the area. Soon the night would start rising and it was hard to work in the dark. Maybe he could just crash at Beef’s place for the night, the butcher lived quite close after all.

Welsknight flew over the forest, soon spotting the desert-beach village that his close friend lived in. He soon saw a house much bigger than the rest. The bright orange rooftops that covered the building seemed a lot less menacing in the night. Warm colored light spilled out of the windows. Looking through said windows revealed a very yellow themed interior. The overload of yellow would bother anyone else, but Beef had somehow lived in the house for several months and hadn’t gotten sick of it, yet. After walking around the perimeter, Wels finally found the front door of the place and knocked twice.

“Coming!” Vintagebeef yelled from the inside.

Sure enough moments later, a man with black hair, a sizable beard, and an old blood stained apron opened the door. 

“What can I do to help yo- oh it’s just you! Come on in Wels!”

“If you do say so!”

Beef led Wels into a cluttered looking room, though the slightly overwhelming glazed terracotta tiles and many columns spanning from the roof to the floor, somehow fit the build and gave it life. 

“It’s been a while, huh Wels?”

“Yeah, I haven’t seen you for three years. Where did you go?”

“Erm…. I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. I don’t even really understand it myself.

“You were somewhere you didn’t understand? Same here!”

“You’ll have to figure that out yourself. This is no proper place to have a meeting. Come on, follow me.”

A maze of rooms, corridors, and secret passages later, Wels found himself in a grand hall of some sort. The ceiling was supported by sandstone arches; a lantern hung on each column. On the far end of the room there were two chairs. Well, one was more like a throne and the other was a stool on the verge of falling apart. The two chairs, if you could even call them that, were separated by a sandstone desk that was slightly too tall. Beef took his seat on the throne. 

“Take a seat.”

Wels wasn’t really sure he wanted to. The stool looked unstable and Beef had a menacing look in his eyes.

“Why are you hesitating? Etho’s been here a few times and he hasn’t died, yet.”

Not very assuring Beef. But Wels didn’t have much of a choice. A trusted friend was telling him to sit down in a chair. What could go wrong? As soon as Wels sat down, he heard the click of a button.

“You sneaky, sneaky b-”

Colorful confetti dispensed from the ceiling. In reality it was more like five pounds worth of shredded paper was dumped onto Wels. He was now covered head to toe in scrap paper. It had even found its way into the crevices of his armor. 

“Did you say something?” Beef asked, trying totally oblivious while choking back laughter.

“Why did you do that?”

“It was just a little welcome back surprise! There’s nothing better than a good welcome home party, y’know!”

“Now there’s paper all over me!”

“You’ve got some sticking out of your collar”

Wels didn’t reply. He just stared at Beef looking totally unimpressed with the ‘welcome back confetti’. 

“What do you want?” Wels asked.

“I’ve been noticing some strange things lately.” Beef’s voice lowered to a whisper as if he were telling a secret. “I think it’s related to that new fella in town.”  
━━━━━━━━┓ ✠ ┏━━━━━━━━  
Mumbo Jumbo was working on his new shop in the shopping district. It was nearing dusk. Minimal amounts of sunlight grazed the area. The whole district was soon going to be lit up by lanterns and torches alike. The soft sound of elytra gliding could be heard behind him, followed by a light thump as the wearer hit the ground. Mumbo turned around to face the helmeted Xisuma still in his bee themed wear. 

“Hello X! What brings you here? The shop’s not finished yet y’know.”

“I just wanted to talk a bit! There have been some… improvements to the server as of late as you know. I was wondering if you knew anything.”

Interesting. Mumbo thought. Most of the time Hermits just use their communicators and type things into the chat. Everyone could see it of course, but normally there wouldn’t be things you would need to hide. And if there was anything confidencial one would just use the whispering function also known as private chat. There was little to no need in meeting someone in person. So, this meeting was a bit out of the ordinary to say the least. Then again the last few weeks were nothing short of odd. First the mansion, and now Wels showing up again after more than half a year of silence.

Xisuma spoke up. “Let me just cut to the chase. Do you know anything about Grian?”

“No? I don’t think so. The mansion was weird but that’s not him is it?”

“I don’t really know. But I do know that you, Iskall, and Grian were close in Season Six.”

“X…. that’s really weird and cryptic to say. I don’t even know Grian and neither do you. How did you even get this information?”

“The short answer to that is Welsknight. The long answer is that Wels was trapped in the Season Six section of the world and woke up with his memory intact. Then things started to disappear and the world seemed to warp around him. He saw and remembered things that never happened. He knew who Grian was before I told him.”

“Maybe he just guessed well or something. How could you be so sure of something as indefinite as memory?”

“Because- he told me something that only I knew. I know he wouldn’t appreciate me telling you, but the secret is getting out sooner or later. Grian is a Watcher and Wels knew all about it somehow.”

“Wait Grian’s a what?”

“He’s a Watcher. They have big white wings, can control memories- probably-, and can remember every world- every reality they have lived in. Watchers are the one who confirmed the many worlds theory.” Xisuma explained. “On pure magical skill alone, Grian is probably more powerful than me. Actually he is most definitely more powerful than me.”

“Wow. Uh-“ Mumbo was shocked. To say he was shocked was an understatement really. Xisuma really wanted him to believe that Grian was a Watcher. Impossible. Watchers were the closest to being a god one could get. They were the masters of memory and in a way the masters of time. Watchers were the only players with powerful enough abilities to be kept across all worlds. 

“I think I’m getting slightly off topic here!” Xisuma sniggered. “The reason I wanted to talk to you is. Grian he’s um- how do I phrase this- missing. I was talking to him the other day and I think I hit a nerve. Somehow.”

“And now you want me to find him because I used to have a bond with someone I don’t even know?”

“Exactly! I know it’s an idea that’s a bit out there but I’m sure you can do it!” Xisuma reconciled. “Maybe it will help him remember something? Or even help you remember something? Please Mumbo, it’s my only lead. This is all my fault anyway but I know he won’t talk to me after that. I’m sorry I had to drag you into this.”

“No no no! It’s fine really! I talked to him the other day when we were touring the jungle. He seems like a pretty great guy. I wouldn’t mind.” Mumbo paused. Xisuma just stared back. “No really I wouldn’t mind talking to him. It would be nice to get away from my daily business you know.”

“Okay then! We’re all set. Once I find him you can go talk to him. See if you can find anything. I’ll contact ya once I get his relative location! Thanks for the help!”

“You’re welcome man!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Also wow! 1.5K hits! Thank you all so so much! Anyways I'm gonna keep this short. Thanks for reading! Comments are always appreciated!  
> Have a good morning/day/night!
> 
> -Momoe <3

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to try to update every few days! If this fic is successful then I may update sooner? Anyways thank you for reading my crappy fanfiction and good day to you! Also I appreciate comments and criticism! Again thank you so much for reading my stuipd writing and a good morning/day/night to you!
> 
> p.s. this is beta read by that_nerd03


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